May 13, 1948: Bull Moose Jackson Held Down the #1, #3, #5 and #10 Spots on the R 'n B Charts!!!

May 13, 1948:  

Bull Moose Jackson hits #10 on the R 'n B chart with

 "Sneaky Pete" 

#3 on the R 'n B chart with 

"All My Love Belongs To You"

Check it out on the original King 78…

 #5 on the R 'n B chart with

 "I Want A Bowlegged Woman"

#1 on the R 'n B chart with

 "I Can't Go On Without You" 

(Oddly enough, unavailable in YouTube)

All four singles are released on King Records...

NOTE: Benjamin Clarence "Bull Moose" Jackson (April 22, 1919 – July 31, 1989) was an American blues and rhythm and blues singer and saxophonist, who was most successful in the late 1940s…

THE USE OF ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL IS USED UNDER THE GUIDELINES OF "FAIR USE" IN TITLE 17 & 107 OF THE UNITED STATES CODE. SUCH MATERIAL REMAINS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE ORIGINAL HOLDER AND IS USED HERE FOR THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION, COMPARISON, AND CRITICISM ONLY. NO INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT IS INTENDED… 

August 15, 1960: The ORIGINAL “The Twist” and three more Hank Ballard tunes chart on this date…

August 15, 1960:

Hank Ballard & the Midnighters

hit #2 on the R&B chart and #7 (8/15) on the pop chart with "Finger Poppin' Time"

#6 on the R&B chart and #28 (9/19) on the pop chart with "The Twist" 

and #1 on the R&B chart and #6 (11/21) on the pop chart with "Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go"

All three singles are released on King Records

THE USE OF ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL IS USED UNDER THE GUIDELINES OF "FAIR USE" IN TITLE 17 & 107 OF THE UNITED STATES CODE. SUCH MATERIAL REMAINS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE ORIGINAL HOLDER AND IS USED HERE FOR THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION, COMPARISON, AND CRITICISM ONLY. NO INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT IS INTENDED   

July 21, 1958: Bill Doggett plays at the Flame Lounge, Detroit, Michigan...

Bill Doggett (February 16, 1916 – November 13, 1996) was an American jazz and rhythm and blues pianist and organist. 

He is best known for his tracks, "Honky Tonk" and "Hippy Dippy", and variously working with The Ink Spots, Johnny Otis, Wynonie Harris, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Jordan….

July 21, 1958: Bill Doggett plays at the Flame Lounge, Detroit, Michigan...

Doggett’s first charted tune had been on Helen Humes’ 1945 Number Three R&B hit "Bee-Baba-Leba”…

But by the mid 1950s, he was hot on his own with:

 

"Honky Tonk" (King 4950) 1956 (#1 R&B/#2 Pop)

"Slow Walk" (King 5000) 1956 (#4 R&B/#26 Pop)

His 1958 appearance at Detroit’s “Hit Maker” FLAME BAR didn’t hurt his career, either…

R.I.P. BILL DOGGETT

THE USE OF ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL IS USED UNDER THE GUIDELINES OF "FAIR USE" IN TITLE 17 & 107 OF THE UNITED STATES CODE. SUCH MATERIAL REMAINS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE ORIGINAL HOLDER AND IS USED HERE FOR THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION, COMPARISON, AND CRITICISM ONLY. NO INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT IS INTENDED 

James Brown and also The Cadillacs Score Big on February 4, 1956 ~ In The Evolution of Rock 'n Roll...

In March of 1954, a Harlem vocal group called The Cadillacs  
released a GREAT ballad about a girl named Gloria and although it was a major Doo-Wop hit at the hops, it never achieved real popularity at the time…

On February 4, 1956, The Cadillacs did enter the Billboard Pop Chart with "Speedo", which will top out at #17 and become a Doo-Wop classic.

Here they are doing Speedo and a few others in this mini-documentary...

 

  SO, WHAT ELSE HAPPENED ON FEBRUARY 4, 1956--THE SAME DAY THAT THE CADILLACS ENTERED THE BILLBOARD CHARTS??? 

It was on February 4, 1956 when James Brown And The Famous Flames recorded 

"Please, Please, Please" at King Studios in Cincinnati.

  The single would go on to become a Billboard #5 R&B hit, selling over a million copies, but nine subsequent releases would fail to live up to the success of their debut.  

It would take over two years for the group to return to the charts with the #1 R&B hit, "Try Me". 

And with that hit, the man who would become “The Godfather of Soul” got the world to think about what’s coming next…

 
FIFTY-SIX YEARS AGO IN THE EVOLUTION OF ROCK ‘n ROLL… 

Hank Ballard--Another Cat Outta Detroit

Hank Ballard was born in Detroit, Michigan on November 18, 1927


(although some later bio info claims he was born 10 years later!!!).

 Hank was a singer and songwriter who earned acclaim in the 1960s with his music and singing. Originally known for his lewd lyrics with the group the Midnighters, Ballard's true claim to fame came when he penned and recorded "The Twist"

THE TWIST became not only a top R&B hit (Chubby Checker, for whatever reasons had the hit!?!), but also a dance craze throughout the United States and Europe. Throughout his lifetime, Ballard recorded over 20 singles that reached the upper positions of the R&B charts and by the time of his death in 2003 had been performing for almost 50 years…

On one day, January 18 in 1954, Hank owned five spots on the R&B and Pop Charts:
 January 19, 1954: Hank Ballard & the Midnighters hits #1 on the R&B chart and #22 on the pop chart with "Work With Me Annie"

#2 on the R&B chart with "Sexy Ways”

and #1 on the R&B chart and #23 on the pop chart with "Annie Had A Baby".

Between the ages of seven and 15, Ballard lived in Alabama, being raised by very strict Baptist relatives
At 15 he could no longer take the restrictions of his life in Alabama, so he ran away from his relatives and went back to Detroit,

 where he found a job working on the line for the Ford Motor Company.

(One of his cousins, Florence Ballard, was also in Detroit at the time. Florence Ballard later worked for Motown and was a member of the Supremes)



While working on the assembly line at Ford Motor Company,  Ballard met Sonny Woods who was singing with a doo-wop group called the Royals.

At that time, the Royals featured Lawson Smith,  when Smith, the group's lead singer, was drafted, Ballard joined the group. Hank made his singing debut in 1951 at an amateur contest organized by bandleader Johnny Otis.

The contest was at Detroit's Paradise Theater.

Otis was so impressed by the group and by Ballard's rich baritone-tenor voice, that the Royals were contracted to the Federal label to record their first record "Every Beat of My Heart"

The tune would become a smash hit in later years for Gladys Knight and the Pips.

In 1963 Ballard disbanded the Midnighters, but retained rights to the name. He reactivated the group later in his life. Of course he had to contend with the British Invasion’s impact of American R&B at the time. Ballard's popularity dwindled and he started performing solo in small clubs. During part of this time he also joined James Brown and performed with the James Brown Revue.

In the late 1960s, he had several single recordings that hit the charts. "How You Gonna Get Respect (When You Ain't Cut Your Process Yet)" reached number 15 on the R&B charts in 1968.

Recording with the “JB’s” (from the James Brown Revue). He had a minor hit in with “From The Love Side” in 1973

Ballard was recognized by his peers and inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

Hank passed away on March 2, 2003, at his home in Los Angeles ...

"There's no medicine out there as great as music. Music has been more therapeutic than holistic  medicine. There's something about music that's just therapeutic. If you're looking for youth, you're looking for longevity, just take a dose of rock 'n' roll."

—Hank Ballard
 
R.I.P. HANK BALLARD, ANOTHER CAT OUTTA DETROIT WHO NEVER TOTALLY GOT HIS PROPS!

 Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go

Think

Laundromat Blues

Finger Poppin’ Time

The Continental Walk

The Cadillacs, Bo Diddley, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, The Debutants, The Dells, The Chips, The Schoolboys, Robert And Johnny and The Heartbeats play the fourth of seven nights as part of Dr Jive's Rhythm'n'Blues Revue at The Apollo Theater, Harlem, New York City

Dr. Jive's Rhythm Revue played seven nights at the Apollo Theater in Harlem and this date, November 24, 1956, was just one of those nights. The headliners included the Cadillacs...

Bo Diddley doing his recent hit tune.."Pretty Thing"

Screamin' Jay Hawkins doing what would become a classic!!!

A group called The Debutants--Sorry, they just didn't make it...But The Dells were there (The "Stay In My Corner" cats)...Most likely doing what should have become a Doo-Wop classic with this one...

The FABULOUS Schoolboys were on the bill doing what did become a Doo-Wop classic (at least for those "in the know"--like in The Burgh. NYC, LA etc...)



Next up, the incredible duo, Roberrt & Johnny, with what would become ANOTHER classic, "We Belong Together"



Also on the bill, The Heartbeats--the group which would become "Shep & The Limelites"--They most likely did their cover of 1000 Miles Away which charted for them (at #57) a year later...



That was all in 1956!!! Great Rock 'n Roll shows happened throughout the 50s and 60s and were all major factors in THE EVOLUTION OF ROCK 'N ROLL!!!

THE USE OF ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL IS USED UNDER THE GUIDELINES OF "FAIR USE" IN TITLE 17 & 107 OF THE UNITED STATES CODE. SUCH MATERIAL REMAINS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE ORIGINAL HOLDER AND IS USED HERE FOR THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION, COMPARISON, AND CRITICISM ONLY. NO INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT IS INTENDED… 

FROM THE FIVE ROYALES TO STEVE CROPPER IN THE EVOLUTION OF ROCK AND ROLL

The FIVE ROYALES was an R&B group from Winston-Salem, NC. The group combined gospel, jump blues and doo-wop. In the process, from their beginning, they were very influential in the EVOLUTION OF ROCK AND ROLL AND SOUL MUSIC.

In the early 1950s it wasn't uncommon for the group to hold as many as the top five spots on the R&B charts:

October 30, 1953 FIVE ROYALES R&B charted hits:

#1

 "Baby Don't Do It"

B/W with  "Help Me Somebody" also at #1

#4

"Too Much Lovin" 

 


And with "Crazy, Crazy, Crazy" at #5

CHECK OUT THIS NPR INTERVIEW WHERE STEVE CROPPER DISCUSSES THE GROUP AS WELL AS HIS OWN

NEW 5 ROYALES TRIBUTE ALBUM